APN | Beirut
8 Azar / March 2024
The American University of Beirut hosted APN Chairperson, Razan Zuayter, who returned to her alma mater to deliver a lecture titled “The Resisting Olive” as part of the university’s Palestine Week and “Keepers of the Land” Lecture Series, organized by the Department of Environment and Sustainable Development.
In a detailed presentation, Zuayter explained why there's a lack of sovereignty over our food and made a clear distinction between the concept of food sovereignty, which ensures political and sovereign autonomy, and the concept of food security, which leads to dependence.
She highlighted the politicization of food, depicting how it is used as a tool of coercion and as a weapon against Palestinians for almost a century. This has been achieved through targeting the Palestinian agricultural sector and environmental resources, including water and land, through direct theft, deprivation, poisoning, and destruction. Particularly notable is the deliberate uprooting and burning of trees as a means to facilitate land confiscation.
She elaborated on the historical use of food as a weapon against Gazans, dating back several years, and emphasized that it forms the foundation of the blockade imposed on them over a decade and a half ago. Initially, this was implemented through a strategy of gradual starvation, which has now evolved into what she described as "genocide by starvation", as witnessed in the current situation.
She pointed out that the war on the Palestinian food system extends to the West Bank as well. She provided official statistics detailing agricultural losses incurred during the last harvest season, which amounted to over $22 million within a span of 53 days. Notably, 94% of these losses were concentrated in the plant production sector, particularly affecting olive trees. Since 7 October 2023, approximately 2 million olive trees have remained unharvested.
Zuayter refuted Zionist narratives depicting Palestine as a land without a people or that Palestinians neglected their land by delving into the agricultural history of Palestine. She underscored the significance of APN's work in supporting Palestinian farmers through green resistance, including planting fruit trees with nutritional and economic value. Moreover, she emphasized the implementation of relief developmental projects, integrating relief efforts with broader perspectives. Additionally, she stressed the importance of leveraging local, international, and regional platforms to advocate for support in the agricultural and environmental sectors and to expose the occupation’s violations.
The lecture was preceded by the planting of a symbolic olive tree on the university campus in the presence of participants, students, organizers, and APN Co-Founder and Agricultural Advisor, Hassan Al Jaajaa, bearing our Million Tree Campaign slogan “They uproot one, we plant ten”, which was launched in Palestine in conjunction with the second intifada.
